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My last tuning has not returned my confirmation call. Forunately, she picked up the phone halfway through the mesage I was leaving her. Another appointment saved just in time!

Update: She upgraded her old piano with elbows breaking for a state of the art Whitney Spinet. Someone raised pitch last June from (250) cents to (200) cents flat, where I found it today. I raised it to (125) cents flat and gave her a treatment plan to get it up to 440.

Spent the day at a long-time customer's home. She has a wonderful Steinway "B" from 1912. It lived a good part of its life in a chicken coop. One of the most stable pianos I service. Always a fun visit...and today she made a Mexican soup (plus other goodies) for lunch...at which we were joined by another long-time customer. Lots of laughs. I love days like today!

What did I do today? Formed my first and second beckets ever. Followed quickly by an unscheduled third and fourth The piano gods clearly thought I needed the extra practice, and saw to it that the very first thing I did with my new tuning hammer was turn the wrong pin and break a string

Was pretty pleased with how they turned out. Be gentle

I've read the whole thread now, and really appreciate all the great stuff folks have shared over the years. Hopefully I'll someday have something a little more meaningful to contribute

What did I do today? Formed my first and second beckets ever. Followed quickly by an unscheduled third and fourth The piano gods clearly thought I needed the extra practice, and saw to it that the very first thing I did with my new tuning hammer was turn the wrong pin and break a string

Was pretty pleased with how they turned out. Be gentle

I've read the whole thread now, and really appreciate all the great stuff folks have shared over the years. Hopefully I'll someday have something a little more meaningful to contribute

Rob

So did you learn to lower the string first if in doubt? and if you move a pin with no change in tone... you better be looking....

nice job... make sure your coils are tight to the becket, pull em up, then gently tap the becket coil down to tighten the coil and square them up to the pin for stability

A Mason & Hamlin BB and a Steinway O, side by side, both nearly 100 year old. The owner tried mine, and now seems interested in what I could do for hers, which have had extensive work done in the past, but are due for it again.

Find an excellent tall enough German vertical W.Hoffmann 1982 for a customer, at a very fair price (about 2000 USD)Once in a while a first grade instrument can be baught for its real value, then some job cna be done on it.

Most often a few specialized shops buy them for a higher cost and sell them after minimal prep job and no repairs, basing value only on make and model.

Thanks to the local colleague who expertized the instrument initiallly

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It is critical that you call your Senators and Representatives and ask them to cosponsor S. 2587 and H.R. 5052. Getting your legislators to cosponsor these bills

I had the "pleasure" of tuning a Kimball Electromatic. It was made in the late 1970's Let's just say it was NOT designed with the piano tuner in mind. They did however put directions inside the piano on how to remove the player action to tune the thing. On top of all of that this piano had not been tuned in years and was over 100 cents flat. It also had three jacks that were sluggish. As I was pulling it up to pitch, I was praying that no strings broke, because I had no idea how I would ever get in to it. There was barely enough room to get my tuning lever on the pins. Because it was a little console and the fact that the player hinges up in the front, I had to lean over the piano in a very uncomfortable way to tune it. Glad to say that no strings broke and it pulled right up to A440. I put a little Protek on the jacks which fixed the problem. The piano ended up sounding really nice and the owner was very happy. What a workout!

After being worn out from that appointment, I had to tune an old upright that was 100 cents flat too. Wouldn't you know it, a treble string broke. One that goes behind the bass strings and has the hitch pin right behind the keybed! After wrangling with it for several minutes, I finally got the string in. What a day!

Today? Virtually nothing except replying to some posts on here. I had schools scheduled for today but they were all closed due to snow. The ground hogs predicted Winter would be over by now but they were wrong. I suppose it is due to global warming when a foot of snow comes down on March 5 since any other severe weather is blamed on it.

I saw all the salt brine trucks coating the streets yesterday in anticipation of this snow event. Most often, the snow happens over night and by the morning rush hour, the plows have the roads and streets open enough to get around. The prediction had been for it to start last night around midnight but that was revised to 3 AM. At 6 AM this morning, there was only a dusting but then, it started, got heavier and heavier and never let up. It is a slow moving storm, so it just piled higher and deeper all day long!

All schools, public buildings and functions announced they would be closed by the time I saw the announcements on TV at 6 AM. 13 1/2 hours later, it is still coming down with another inch accumulation expected but then the storm will pass and the snow will end.

The good news is that the snow plowers will have all night to clear the roads so that people can get back to work and business tomorrow early. Temperatures will rise to above freezing, so roads and streets will be passable quickly.

Last Winter was spare on snow, so it left ground moisture enough to start crops growing but needing abundant rain to see them through. Quite the opposite happened over a very wide area in the central USA. Not only was there no rain but temperatures rose abnormally high and sustained themselves week after week. The destruction to crops had to be seen to be believed! I have never seen anything like it! Field after field of withered, immature corn that looked nearly as if it had been burned by a fire!

This Winter started off slowly as well, very mild temperatures well into January but with one, huge dump of snow right before Christmas. It quickly melted. Then, it started. Snow after snow after snow! Not inches but feet of it just where the land had been so parched last year.

The lakes around here usually freeze by late December or early January. This year, there were warnings of thin ice and reports of people falling through it who tried to venture out on it. Snowmobile trails were closed. Ski areas were closed that sometimes opened as early as Thanksgiving. It did not look good but then things took a turn for the better.

So, while it meant a day that usually comes in early to mid January or even as late as early February when nobody could go anywhere, several such snow storms have blanketed the central USA in mid to late Winter this year. It is, for all its inconvenience, an answer to a prayer to end the drought of 2012.

It really looks quite beautiful to gaze out upon a very thick blanket of snow that covers everything. Piles of earlier snows that had been plowed aside are now a foot higher than they were before. There are places where the snow along the side of the road is six feet high and places where snow mounds in parking lots are 20 feet high! Ice on side streets last month had been 6 inches thick. You could easily ruin your wheel alignment or cause a flat tire if you tried to drive too fast on that stuff! I have seen huge, 8 foot long ice cycles draping the roofs of houses and buildings everywhere. I had to break off a row of 4 foot ice cycles one day just to get into my garage!

I am looking forward to having the roads and streets cleared for me to make my 8 AM appointment tomorrow. I'll have to reschedule the schools when I can, even if it means working late for a few days.